


The Good Witch and the Boy Who Cried Wolf

by FanFicReader01



Series: Peculiar encounters of a taxi driver [14]
Category: Poets of the Fall, Powerwolf (Band)
Genre: Childhood, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Ficlet, Hurt/Comfort, Lycans, Oneshot, Taxi AU, Transformation, Werewolves, difficult childhood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 15:06:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17810267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanFicReader01/pseuds/FanFicReader01
Summary: Go row the boat to safer groundsBut don't you know we're stronger nowMy heart still beats and my skin still feelsMy lungs still breathe, my mind still fears~ Aurora, Running With The Wolves





	The Good Witch and the Boy Who Cried Wolf

**Author's Note:**

> Oneshot that focuses on the history of Falk and Tiia as they appear in the Strange Trails/Taxi AU series :3

**Go row the boat to safer grounds**

**But don't you know we're stronger now**

**My heart still beats and my skin still feels**

**My lungs still breathe, my mind still fears**

**But we're running out of time**

**Oh, all the echoes in my mind cry**

_Falk laid in the grass field. He was staring at the blue sky in front of him and wondered what it would be like to roam the skies: fearless and free. Much like birds._

_He closed his eyes and tried to imagine it. Fly among a flock of birds, belong and-_

_His fantasy got interrupted by something hitting his head. When the brown haired boy opened his eyes, he saw a ball had hit him. He immediately sat up and picked up the football.  A group of other children stood looking at him from a distance._

_“This ball yours?” Falk exclaimed at them._

_“Yes! Now give it back!” one of the kids yelled back._

_After they ran away with their ball again, Falk sighed and stared at the grass beneath him._

_He remembered what he was thinking of: belonging somewhere. He definitely didn’t belong here with his classmates. There was something strange about him that set him apart. Falk didn’t know what that was yet. He only knew that others just… avoided him. But he wasn’t completely stupid and he was definitely_ not _deaf. He could hear them whisper behind his back. Falk had always been a good listener._

_“That boy stinks.”_

_“Yes, I know right? He is smelly.”_

_“Papa told me he is dangerous.”_

_“Those eyes. No one else has yellow eyes.”_

_“When he’s daydreaming, he makes weird noises. Creepy noises.”_

_Falk was never that self-aware. But after he heard those rumours, he’d become more attentive. He even tried to change his ways, just so he would fit in with the others._

_The boy started to wash every day. Sometimes he’d scrub himself so hard, his skin would bleed. Still,  the other kids still thought he reeked._

_Eye contacts to hide the yellow were no option: they only hurt young Falk’s eyes._

_And about his daydreams and whatever he’d say during them, could not be controlled anyway._

_Trying to change made Falk exhausted at the end of the day. So one day he got tired of trying and instead tried to accept that he’d never be part of the other kids._

_But accepting that fact, was heart crushing._

**There's blood on your lies**

**The sky's open wide**

**There is nowhere for you to hide**

**The hunter's moon is shining**

_For weeks now, Falk had been feeling restless. His skin was incredibly itchy. His anger was only boiling up. He often just shouted at his mother without reason. And then he’d feel guilty because his mother looked_ afraid _of him. But if he ever asked her about his father or why other kids of his town avoided him, his mother just avoided the question. She would mutter something before walking away._

_And now she wasn’t much of help either. Heck, Falk didn’t even dare to bother her with the problems he was facing at the moment._

_His muscles hurt, sometimes he could hear his bones crack. He wondered if it was part of puberty despite only being eleven, almost twelve at that time._

_At night he couldn’t sleep and he would just walk circles in his room until it got him exhausted._

_“What is happening to me?” the boy cried to the ceiling._

_Sometimes Falk would pass out and when he woke up again, he had ruined his room: blankets had been ripped, the feathers of the pillow all around and Falk didn’t remember a thing._

_He finally started to realize he was in fact a monster. And the boy became scared of himself. So he tried to not sleep. If he wouldn’t sleep, then he couldn’t turn into something weird, right?_

_But little Falk could not run from his faith, from what he truly was: a Lycan._

_On the night of his twelfth birthday he went through his first full transformation. For every single Lycan on this world, it’s their most memorable but also most traumatic experience and little Falk was no exception._

_His mother had locked him up in his room after he’d thrown a tantrum yet again. Obviously frustrated, Falk started to beat into his pillow and even threw his chair against the wall. That’s when the itching came back. Stronger than ever. Falk scratched and scratched. He took off all his clothes but nothing could make the itch stop. The poor boy grew desperate and with new fear in his eyes, he saw that his fingers had developed claws. And there was blood on his hands._ His _blood. No. No. No. This wasn’t really happening. Confused he managed to crawl to the door and pushed his back against it. Falk was trembling uncontrollably._

_He wanted to cry but only a strange roar escaped his throat. Speaking of which, there was something stuck in his throat. A thick ball or something. Falk wasn’t sure. He didn’t know what to do._

_He fell to the floor and sobbed. Crack, crack. The sound of his bones._

_“W-what is happening t-to me?” he shivered. His voice sounded different. Hoarse, almost growling._

_Somewhere during these horrible event, Falk must’ve passed out because when he was awake again, he felt stronger. But his body also hurt. But he needed to run. It didn’t matter where to, but he just had to go for a long, long run._

_His rational thoughts failed him and without thinking twice, he made a run for the window and crashed through it. To the boy’s own surprise, he landed perfectly onto the street. And then he started to run._

_First on his two feet. Then he realized he could go faster if only he’d use his hands too. But not being used to running on all fours yet, made him trip into a puddle._

_That’s when Falk finally got to look at himself again. What he saw shocked him so hard, he jumped in the air out of fear._

_His face was no longer that of a pale boy. It was the face of a beast. A ferocious looking beast with glowing, yellow eyes and a furry head._

_No, no, no._

_Distraught Falk ran into the woods. He had to hide. Now. No one could see him like this. Oh shit, shit, shit. This is why all the other kids were afraid of him. This was why nobody liked him. This was why his mother was afraid of him. His true form was that of a monster._

_Blinded by his own fear and panic and pain, Falk disappeared deeper and deeper into the forest until his legs couldn’t carry him anymore._

_He collapsed._

_His nose woke him up. The young Lycan smelled_ blood _. Fresh, human blood and he craved it. Falk had never craved flesh of the living but that didn’t frighten him now. His beast form had taken over completely as he crawled up to his feet. The wild wolf tracked down the source of the delicious food and found a figure it the woods._

_The human shrieked._

_Falk attacked. The human was quicker and before the Lycan could see it coming, he got hit by a large stick and fell unconscious to the ground._

**I'm running with the wolves tonight**

**I'm running with the wolves**

**I'm running with the wolves tonight**

**I'm running with the wolves**

There’s a certain beauty to a hunt. Flashes of black and grey and even white zigzag through vertical lines of green and dark brown. The snow getting worked up by strong paws.

Every now and then you can spot the red of hungry tongues. The yellow eyes are sharper than ever. Sharp breaths leaving misty trails. Falk can feel his pack’s bodies close to him. Thick fur all around him.

 He’s sure he can even hear and feel their heartbeats, almost synchronizing with his own.

It’s such a thrill. And then there’s of course the prey: a young but energetic deer which smells wonderful. Wonderfully fearful.

 

Once the hunt is over, they all feast. Their mouths will be drenched in blood while their flanks tremble, still pumped with adrenaline.

Falk looks at his fellow brothers and sisters. Internally he smiles. This feels right. This is the way it should be. This is his family. This is home.

**Trick or treat, what would it be?**

**I walk alone, I'm everything**

**My ears can hear and my mouth can speak**

**My spirit talks, I know my soul believes**

_The boy opened his eyes anew. He sensed he was somewhere else. No longer was he in his room. Of course not, he ran away. But he wasn’t in the woods either. He laid in a foreign bed in a foreign room. Alarmed he tried to get up but he couldn’t. His body hurt._

_With a painful flashback, he remembered how he had transformed into a monster. Almost to afraid to look again, he managed to raise his arms and look at his hands. They were naked. Human._

_“Finally you’re awake!” A female voice was raised._

_Falk looked around him and saw that a door had opened. A woman was standing in the opening._

_“Can I come in?”_

_Slightly baffled, Falk nodded. The woman came up close and he could sense she meant no harm. Who was she? There was something familiar about her, maybe her scent._

_“W-Where am I, Ma’am?”_

_“You can call me Tiia. You’re in my house. I found you in the woods. When you were still a Lycan.”_

_“A L-Lycan?” the boy uttered confused. The friendly looking woman nodded._

_“Yes. You don’t-, Anyway, Lycans are people who can turn into humanoid wolves”, Tiia explained. Falk was again, dumbfounded. So Tiia was implying there were more people with his condition. But where were they? And why did his mother never tell him? So many questions arose, it must’ve shown on the boy’s puzzled face. It made Tiia laugh._

_“Anyway, I found you while you were in your wolf shape. You were rather wild, untamed and you looked hurt. Your feral side had taken over and, you may not like it, but you attacked me so I had to protect myself. So sorry for that bump on your head.”_

_Falk rubbed his hand against his temple and indeed felt a painful bump._

_“Once again, my apologies.”_

_“N-no, no, no. I should be the one to apologize. D-Did I hurt you badly?” Falk stammered back. The woman shook her head before revealing a nasty looking scratch on her lower leg._

_“I’m so sorry!” Falk repeated with a raised voice. He did that and-_

_“It’s alright. It will heal. But what about you, young man? How are you feeling? Or maybe I should ask for your name first?”_

_“I’m Falk. Falk Maria Schlegel,” the young Lycan muttered._

_“Nice to meet you, Falk Maria Schlegel. That’s a beautiful name,” Tiia smiled. “So how are your emotions? Your feelings?”_

_“I-,” Falk opened his mouth and then shut it again. He felt strange. There were so many questions and so less answered. He didn’t know where to start. Tiia seemed to notice._

_“You know what? Just take another nap and I’ll check in on you over an hour. Then I’ll bring you a special tea of mine. You like tea?”_

_Falk shrugged his shoulders._

_“Hm, we’ll see. The tea is really soothing. I think you’ll like it.” Then the kind woman disappeared again._

_Some minutes later, Falk no longer wanted to stay in bed. Now he noticed the clothes on the nightstand next to him.  With a blush he realized he was naked underneath the blankets._

_As quick as his body allowed him, he slipped into the oversized clothes. He sneaked down the stairs and after entering some wrong rooms, he finally found his way into the kitchen._

_Tiia was preparing some food or something._

_“Ma’am?”_

_“Holy Moly! Oh, hey! You caught me off guard, Falk!” the woman said surprised. Then her face eased and she smiled at the boy, gesturing him to sit down at the table._

_She gave him the promised tea and sat down with him._

_“You must have a lot of questions.”_

_Falk nodded shyly._

_“What would you like to know first?”_

_“H-How did you know I meant no real harm? And what I am?”_

_“First of all, Lycans do not look like regular wolves. They look more human like. And you are a child Lycan so you’re still small in posture. I couldn’t really tell you meant no harm but from what I learned, child Lycans are often uncontrolled. Especially if they’re transforming for the first time.”_

_“Whoa,” Falk was amazed and shocked all at the same time. There was already so much to process here._

_“How do you know?”_

_“I read a lot of books, my dear. Books of the old world, about Ancient Tongues and all kinds of magical creatures that live in this regular world.”_

_“T-That’s so cool,” twelve year old Falk was impressed by this friendly lady’s knowledge. “Please, tell me more!”_

**A gift, a curse**

**They track and hurt**

**Say can you dream**

**In nightmares seems**

**A million voices, silent screams**

**Where hope is left so incomplete**

_Meeting Tiia was the start of a wonderful friendship._

_Whenever he’d feel sad or misunderstood, Falk would go to Tiia. All travelled by foot. His mom couldn’t know and he didn’t have any money to pay for a taxi or a bus trip._

_There were a lot of afternoons when the boy would visit the witch. He would drop his school bag in the hallway and go to the kitchen. Tiia always prepared a cup of tea for him. And sometimes she’d give him something sweet to go with that._

_They would talk or he would do his homework here. And Tiia tried to help him._

_Tiia was also young still, so she still had lot to learn a lot about spices and magic. Together they’d read the magic books and Tiia would also tell Falk about his heritage and the history of Lycans._

_“Is this why dad left? Because he was a Lycan?” Falk murmured wistful._

_“I dunno, Falkie. I never met your dad so I can’t tell,” Tiia sighed._

_“Where are other Lycans, Tiia? Could you take me to them?”_

_“I’m afraid I do not know where they reside. You’ll have to figure that out for yourself one day. Sorry I cannot help with that.”_

_Falk stared at the book with the pictures of drawn Lycans. Then he smiled and said: “That’s okay then. I’ll find them myself. When I’m older. But thank you, Tiia. For being here for me.”_

_“It’s the last I can do for a boy like you,” Tiia smiled back._

_Sometimes Falk didn’t say anything when he arrived at Tiia’s small house. He would look sad and cry and remain silent. Tiia didn’t ask or dragged more out of him. She would just sit with him. Laid a hand on his shoulder in comfort or hug him if he wished so._

_Sometimes she would sing him a lullaby. And once Falk was calm again, he’d quietly sang along until he felt better._

_His life wasn’t easy at all. His peers still feared him. Some adults still mocked him. But he knew he could always go to his safe haven: Tiia’s house._

_She would always embrace him with open arms. Even at his worst, Tiia was still trying to help him._

**_I'm running with the wolves tonight_ **

**_I'm running with the wolves_ **

**_I'm running with the wolves tonight_ **

**_I'm running with the wolves_ **

 

_Falk’s body was filled with anger and adrenaline. His anger issues had increased while he was in the middle of his puberty. Reckless, wild and untamed. It had gotten him into a lot of fist fights. He didn’t always like it, especially because he knew it would sadden Tiia. But sometimes, he just wanted to beat someone. He wondered if it was his Lycan blood that made him like this. Or if he was just an actual violent guy pretending to be a shy boy._

_Now he was running in the woods again. Alone, chased, maybes secretly frightened. It almost felt like five years ago, when he turned for the first time._

_Falk howled at the moon. It looked like it was mocking him._ You’ll never control your beast side.

_But the young Lycan didn’t want that to be true. But now, he didn’t know how to change back._

_He_ couldn’t _. But he_ had to _. Because he was in a dangerous situation. Despite being in a stronger form, Falk could still feel the pain that the hunters inflicted on him. He had managed to shake them off but for how long?_

_Blinded by his turmoil inside his head –he was still fighting with his rational side— he had ran in circles and now he was desperately looking for a safe place. But he could no longer locate the witch’s house. It stressed him out and only fed his anger. He heard voices close in on him._

_He duck down and tried to hide his body. Maybe if he’d hold still, they wouldn’t find him._

_Step. Step. Step._

_Something came closer._

_Closer, closer, closer, closer._

_Voices._

_Falk could no longer process who or what voices there were. He didn’t want to die. His leg hurt like crazy. Lycans were not bulletproof. His mind was going mad. His head was booming. It was all too much._

**_Too much. Too much noise. Too much turmoil._ **

****

_An agonizing scream but it was not Falk’s voice. It was-_

_In a bewildered state, the Lycan dared opening his eyes and found the only woman that understood him laying next to him. Her arm had been hit by him. She was bleeding. A lot._

_“T-Tiia,” he stammered in his raw voice._

_“It-It’s alright,” the witch huffed. “I-, I’m more concerned about you, Falkie.” Despite the pain and panic he was in, he still had to smile at his old pet name. Despite being hurt, she still saw him as a friend. This woman was truly someone special._

_Tiia crawled over to him and_ hugged _the large Lycan._

_“You’re trembling, Falkie. You’re trembling.”_

I know. _Falk couldn’t speak. His whole body was stressed out, exhausted. And his leg hurt. Probably like Tiia’s arm. Fuck, he did that to her. In his blindness, he’d attacked her. But now she was here hugging him like nothing had happened to her at all.  Damn, he didn’t deserve her love._

_“It’s okay,” Tiia spoke up again. Her grip around him tightened. Although he was too large to fully embrace, the woman tried to embrace him with all the love she had._

_And that very love and selfishness seeped into the hurt Lycan. His body softened, eased into her comforting touch. For a moment Falk dared closing his eyes and forget he was actually being hunted._

_“Hush now, my son. There, there you go. Don’t worry about it. I’ll carry you home,” the witch murmured against his fur ear._

_As if those were the magic words, Falk felt his body shift forms again. He’d never get used to the painful transformations but with Tiia at his side, everything felt lighter and so much easier to endure._

_Like it always did._

_Tiia kept her promise. At the moment Falk didn’t know how she did it, but she had carried him while still being wounded herself, all the way out of the woods._

_“Don’t worry. We’ll make it out alive. We’ll make it.”_

 

You’re right. We’ll make it. I’ll make it. And maybe being a Lycan isn’t that bad after all.


End file.
